Milestone 2.5
B. Meeting Dynamics
1-Meeting organization and participant preparedness impact meeting effectiveness. When asked to rank common meeting problems on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 = significant problem for meetings and 1 = not a problem, people ranked lack of organization an average of 3.59. In addition to meetings lacking organization, participants often feel that they are not organized enough to contribute: People indicated that the leading reason why they do not contribute to meetings is lack of preparation. The second leading reason is that their ideas are not developed enough to share. Further highlighting the challenge, one respondent wrote that he or she “felt confused and lost by what others were talking about.” Another wrote “my ideas were too disagreeable, and I couldn’t figure out how to fit them into the… positive thinking that most meetings are”; Similarly, in response to the question, how do you like to contribute to meetings? One person said, “Converse. Push on ideas, good and bad. But mostly, I seem to question motives and intent.”2-It is clear from the comments above and the data, that meetings have the potential to be very awkward and contentious. When people do have something they intend to say, 43% say it immediately and 40% wait for a break in the conversation. About 60% sometimes leave a meeting without asking a question or making a comment that is important to them. After lack of organization, people who have questions that do not get answered and people who have comments that are never responded to ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively.
3-Questions and comments can be a source of curiosity as well as tension.
88% of respondents would like to see a list of other people’s questions during a meeting if they could and 85% would like to see a list of other people’s comments during a meeting if they could. This suggests that it software that moderated or otherwise organized comments and questions might be helpful.
*Design Idea – Support Awkward Moments
Make functions to support awkward meeting moments. Some examples for these are below:
- “I am lost.”
- “I have something negative to say.”
- “I am have an idea that is not fully developed.”
- “I want to challenge an idea.”
*Design Idea-Add a Social Component to Questions and Comments
Allow people to see other people’s questions and comments during a meeting. This functionality could be extended to include allowing people to respond to others’ questions and comments or indicate that they have the same question or comment as another person.
*Design Idea-Archive Questions and Comments for Later Response or Retrieval
Store questions and comments so that they carry from one meeting to another. If people sometimes leave without getting their questions and comments noted, it might be useful to record them so that they are addressed at some point.
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